1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) and, more particularly, to a system and method for dynamic EEE control policy based on user or device profiles and usage parameters.
2. Introduction
Energy costs continue to escalate in a trend that has accelerated in recent years. Such being the case, various industries have become increasingly sensitive to the impact of those rising costs. One area that has drawn increasing scrutiny is the IT infrastructure. Many companies are now looking at their IT systems' power usage to determine whether the energy costs can be reduced. For this reason, an industry focus on energy efficient networks has arisen to address the rising costs of IT equipment usage as a whole (i.e., PCs, displays, printers, servers, network equipment, etc.).
In designing an energy efficient solution, one of the considerations is the utilization of the network link. For example, many network links are typically in an idle state between sporadic bursts of data, while in other network links, there can be regular or intermittent low-bandwidth traffic, with bursts of high-bandwidth traffic.
Conventionally, an EEE control policy can analyze the link utilization to determine whether to adapt the link, link rate, and layers above the link to an optimal solution based on various energy costs and impact on traffic. While this level of analysis provides a coarse mechanism of intelligently saving energy, it falls short of the ideal. What is needed therefore is a mechanism that improves the ability of the EEE control policy to tailor an energy saving solution to the particular performance characteristics of a link.